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Earlier this month, the Executive Producer, Erin Prather Stafford, invited me to come and review Wonder Women!. So, on Saturday night, my wife and I took a little trip down to the Dallas Museum of Art and into their Horchow Auditorium to witness a most compelling documentary on the Superheroine and her impact on American society and the Feminist Movement. In most documentaries you can expect a certain amount of dryness, but not so in Wonder Women!.

I was enthralled by the lengths gone to to explore the beginnings of comicdom and the sense of impact the medium has had on the American Culture. Wonder Woman and Lynda Carter‘s portrayal of the character on television were given primacy as the symbol of female strength, but it didn’t stop there, the film included the contributions of many of comic’s, television’s, and film’s strongest female roles.

As the documentary points out, it is kind of ironic that Wonder Woman was seen as such an empowering female figure when she spent much of her early life as an image of submission and weakness. A reader only has to look at what DC turned Wonder Woman into in the 60s, they took her power and put her as the head of her own clothing boutique. It is amazing to find out, however, that it was the work done by the women at Ms. Magazine that got Wonder Woman‘s mystical powers back into the comics. Women empowering women is really what this film was all about.

As it turns out, men still hold much of the production power over how women are portrayed in the media. Some, such as Joss Whedon, use that power for good (Buffy: The Vampire Slayer), while others, DC and Marvel have a tendency to use it for bad (DC’s New 52 take on Catwoman and both companies’ oversexualized portrayal of women). Many productions and publications are still relunctant to hire more female creators (again, DC and Marvel). My hopes, and I’m sure the creators of this documentary feel a like sentiment, is that this film and others like it can put a more female empowering message out into the culture. To the Director, Kristy Guevara-Flanagan, and those behind her, I praise your accomplishment.

The audience was awarded a question and answer period with Erin Prather Stafford after the show and below I have the questions I asked and her answers.

Marvel and DC hire few female creators. Do you feel that this film and the creators behind it are helping to change that?

Stafford: I would hope that we are inspiring more inclusion in their publication. There are some creators out there and we hope that their numbers will continue to grow.

When Wonder Woman killed Maxwell Lord, she broke the superhero code not to kill in DC’s Universe. Do you see that as empowering or villainizing?

Stafford: It is hard to judge, in one way it is empowering, but I would just hope that it doesn’t paint a picture that Wonder Woman can’t be strong without being violent. During the DC reboot, they changed her, she is more masculine. They have added to her strength, but it takes away from her compassion.

The Wonder Woman movie is continually thrust back into production limbo while male characters are breaking box office records. How do you see this situation?

Stafford: I think that the last few years have seen an increase in strong female characters in film. We have had the Hunger Games, Brave, the Black Widow in the Avengers movie, and Anne Hathaway‘s portrayal of Catwoman. I feel that these works have helped to strengthen the female character and I think this would be a great time for the Wonder Woman movie.

Joss Whedon was once attached to the movie and then he turned around and did great things for Avengers. I just hope that whomever gets to work on the film does a great job. If you look at the Elektra movie and Halle Berry‘s Catwoman, you can see that Hollywood has a trend of making subpar female-headed action movies and then blaming their failures on the fact that a woman had the lead role. I just hope they do a good job.